ZAGREB, 27 April, 2021 - The anti-corruption office USKOK has indicted an Afghan national and eight Croatian nationals for smuggling migrants.

The Afghan national, who is the principal defendant in the case, is charged with having organised a ring to smuggle migrants across the Croatian-Slovenian border.

The migrants were charged €600-800 for transport from the Croatian-Bosnian border to the border with Slovenia.

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ZAGREB, 23 April, 2021 - The conviction of Varaždin Mayor Ivan Čehok, businessman Davor Patafta and Patafta's associate Narcisa Huljev was quashed on appeal by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court stated on Friday that it established that during the trial the first-instance court violated provisions of the criminal proceedings and therefore the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in this case.

In July 2018, Zagreb County Court sentenced Varaždin mayor Ivan Čehok to two years in prison after the court found him guilty of the charges of having favoured companies owned by his co-defendant, businessman Davor Patafta, and defrauding the city budget of 14 million kuna between late 2007 and mid-2011.

Patafta was sentenced to 20 months for incitement to abuse of office. Also sentenced was Narcisa Huljev, who works for Patafta. She was given a sentence of 18 months of which she will spend nine in jail. The other indictees in this case were Tomislav Kezelj and Hrvoje Vojvoda, who were acquitted, and three firms owned by Patafta. The national serious fraud office USKOK had accused them of conspiracy to commit crime, abuse of office, and incitement to abuse of office.

Čehok resigned as mayor of over the case in 2014. He was re-elected mayor in local elections held in 2017.

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ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - Former Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) head Nadan Vidošević told the court on Wednesday that he did not participate in fictitious business deals, dismissing as lies claims by Davor Komerički, who turned state's evidence, that Vidošević had asked him to launder money for him.

"The indictment is a cobweb and I know why Komerički gave a false testimony... so that he is freed from criminal charges and to have his company's accounts unblocked. There were no fictitious deals and Komerički is the only witness the prosecution has," Vidošević said at the Zagreb County Court while presenting his defence in a case dubbed Remorker.

Vidošević repeated several times during the presentation of his defence that he and his associates had not caused any damage to the HGK or the Kraš confectionery company, and that they had not siphoned money from them. "There is not one piece of material evidence against me, nor any message or text message that I might have exchanged," he said.

He also said that he had been barraged by some media outlets even before the trial started and that two-thirds of the indictment were based on his property whose value some of the media had exaggerated and which, he said, he had obtained legally.

Vidošević added that during a search of his home, documents referring to his artworks and the construction of his house in Gorski Kotar disappeared, of which he accused the police anti-corruption office PNUSKOK, saying it had made his defence more difficult. He also said that the expert estimate of the value of his property was "grotesque."

Defence presented four years since trial started

Vidošević's defence comes four years after the trial started in the Remorker case in which the former HGK head was accused of siphoning money from the HGK which he had led for years.

Vidošević's long-standing associate Zdenka Peternel was also accused in the case as was Josipa Mladinov, Jasna Mikić and Jadranka Ivčić, who have all pleaded not guilty.

Four other co-defendants pleaded guilty prior to the trial and were convicted after plea-bargaining with the prosecution. They are the key figures in the scandal - Igor Premilovac, who was the first to own up to issuing fictitious invoices via his Czech-based company Remorker and returning laundered money to Croatia for a commission; Davor Komerički, a marketing expert who accused Vidošević of being involved in a chain that was siphoning money from the HGK; real estate agent Vesna Rodić who advised Vidošević, and Jasna Mrakovčić Grubić, who admitted that she had siphoned money from the HGK with Vidošević by faking artwork purchases.

The USKOK anti-corruption office pressed charges against Vidošević and the eight other defendants in July 2015. USKOK proposed that assets equivalent to the HRK 33.4 million that was allegedly siphoned be confiscated from Vidošević.

However, a new expert analysis has shown that Vidošević acquired 26 properties and 444 works of art, worth HRK 22.3 million, legally and that property worth only HRK 9.2 million remains suspicious.

In mid-December 2020, USKOK withdrew its motion to expand the confiscation of Vidošević's assets after it was determined that the discrepancy between his income and expenditure was smaller than the value of the assets he was charged with having illegally gained.

ZAGREB, Sept 17, 2020 - The national anti-corruption body USKOK on Thursday confirmed the arrest of Dragan Kovacevic, the CEO of oil pipeline operator Janaf, saying that several people were being arrested on suspicion of influence peddling, bribery and illicit preferential treatment.

In a statement in which the suspects were not identified, USKOK said it had asked Parliament to strip two MPs of immunity from prosecution.

The MPs in question are Velika Gorica mayor Drazen Barisic (HDZ) and Nova Gradiska mayor Vinko Grgic (SDP), and both have told the media they have nothing to do with corruption. The motion to lift immunity will be discussed by the Credentials and Privileges Commission in the afternoon.

USKOK said it would decide on further steps after the suspects were questioned.

According to media reports, Kovacevic is suspected of receiving HRK 1.9 million in bribes from the CEO of a company which landed an HRK 40 million deal from Janaf.

According to unofficial information, ten people have been arrested.

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ZAGREB, June 2, 2020 - The State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) and the USKOK anti-corruption office are not the sources of information from the investigation in the wind park case that has been published in the media, USKOK said on Tuesday, adding that the police were ordered to investigate the leaks.

DORH and USKOK are not the sources of the information published in the media because the publication of any information from the investigation undermines breakthroughs in the case, which is why the police were ordered today to investigate, USKOK said. 

In this case, the decision to conduct an investigation was made on May 30 and, in line with the Criminal Procedure Act, it was forwarded to all the accused and their lawyers, at least 29 persons, USKOK said, adding that all the transcripts that had been published were cited in the decision on the investigation.

A comparison of what has been published and the transcripts cited in the decision shows that the published transcripts have been partly misinterpreted, USKOK added.

The fact that only transcripts of conversations cited in the decision on the investigation have been published, thereby being available to a large number of persons, confirms that USKOK is not the source of the information that has been published, USKOK said.

It recalled that in line with the Criminal Procedure Act, after a decision to conduct an investigation is made, all accused and their lawyers are entitled to see the case file and copy it.

Although under the Criminal Procedure Act and investigation is not secret but not public either, DORH and USKOK believe that the publication of information gathered during an investigation undermines breakthroughs in the case, which is why it is highly important to establish who leaked it in this case, USKOK said.

Claims that DORH and USKOK are leaking information discredit the efforts and work of DORH and incite distrust in its work, USKOK said.

ZAGREB, June 2, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday that Josipa Rimac, a former state secretary arrested in the wind park scandal, had once said that he was not a Croat, adding that he cannot believe that someone who is a state secretary can behave like an "agent for an American investment company."

Asked if he was surprised by the wind park scandal and its extent, Milanovic said that while he was prime minister, Rimac, a former Knin mayor, had said that he was not a Croat and that he did not love his people.

"Then we paid a couple of million kunas for a monument at the Knin railway station. My government did not commission it. We financed it with a feeling of joy and patriotism. Then she brought those troublemakers to Knin and now she is in investigative custody. It is unbelievable that the state secretary in the Public Administration Ministry has the nerve to behave like an agent for an American investment company," he said.

Responding to a reporter's remark that Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric shifted the responsibility for the wind park scandal onto his government because all agreements regarding renewable energy sources were signed during his term in office, Milanovic said that Coric was not telling the truth.

Milanovic said that at the end of his term, the then relevant minister, Ivan Vrdoljak, adopted "some sort of decision," after which the government led by Tihomir Oreskovic was in power for a brief time and then came the current government which, Milanovic said, has had four and a half years to "nip that in the bud."

"If a minister had some authority in my government and could make some decisions on his own, I do not know about that," he claimed and explained that at one stage wind parks were interesting for investors because enterprises were stimulated to invest in that form of energy production.

With regard to the March for Life is held on the day of election silence, Milanovic said that was an initiative that advocated the fight against abortion and is led by a woman who previously worked for Human Rights Watch, adding that he has a problem with the concept of election silence in any case.

"That doesn't mean anything. I think that lady is not a candidate on any election slate. It's all the same to me, the people will decide. That might bother some people and they will go to the polls and vote for someone else or maybe they didn't plan to vote at all," he said.

ZAGREB, May 30, 2020 - After an extensive police operation in a case involving the construction of a wind park, the USKOK anti-corruption agency has launched an investigation into 13 business people and state officials, including Josipa Rimac, a state secretary at the Public Administration Ministry who was fired on Friday.

Rimac and 12 other officials and business people are suspected of influence peddling, abuse of office and authority, of giving bribes and giving bribes in exchange for influence peddling, and of receiving bribes.

Apart from Rimac, who is the main suspect in the case, criminal reports were also filed against the owner of Lager Group and C.E.M.P. company, Milenko Basic, Lager executive director Dragan Stipic, state-owned Hrvatske Sume (HS) forest management company CEO Krunoslav Jakupcic, the head of the HS Split branch, Ivan Melvan, and the head of the Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA), Tomislav Jurekovic.

The other suspects are Sibenik businessman Ante Sladic, Zagreb businessman Josip Ravlic, HDZ Knin City Council member Marinko Tokmacija, the head of the Agriculture Minister's office, Ruzica Njavro, the HDZ mayor of Gracac, Natasa Turbic, Knin businessman Nikola Lapcic, and Assistant Economy Minister Ana Mandac, who was also fired on Friday.

A police report, which does not reveal the suspects' identity, says that they are Croatian nationals, while Basic and Stipic also hold Bosnian citizenship.

Rimac is suspected of having acted in collusion with Basic and Stipic, in the period from early 2019 to the end of May that year, to secure for them, by using her position as state secretary, permits, certificates and contracts needed to build and put into operation the Krs-Padjane wind park as well as enable it to produce and sell power, despite the fact that the necessary conditions had not been met.

In exchange for the permits, Basic and Stipic promised Rimac to sign an insurance policy for the wind park, with Rimac receiving a commission of €45,000 as the policy would be arranged by her sister as the insurance agent.

USKOK stressed that as part of the deal, Rimac undertook a number of activities towards officials at the State Assets Ministry, HERA, and Hrvatske Sume so as to favour Basic's company.

She is suspected of having used her office and authority as well as the fact that she had access to available information to ask the relevant ministry on several occasions to urgently amend and put out of force decisions obliging Basic's firm to pay a due fee of HRK 6.9 million for the right of servitude.

Police note that Basic's company had avoided paying the fee ever since April 2015 even though it unlawfully used the land in question the whole time.

By ensuring that the relevant decisions were put out of force, Rimac is believed to have made it possible for amended regulations that entered into force in the meantime and that made payment terms and calculation of the fee for the right of servitude more favorable, to apply to C.E.M.P., thus enabling the company to pay a much lower fee for the right of servitude, in the amount of one million kunas.

Rimac is also suspected of having used her position to ask Hrvatske Sume CEO Krunoslav Jakupcic and the head of the Split branch of Hrvatske Sume, Ivan Melvan, to urgently withdraw negative opinions and estimates of damage issued by Hrvatske Sume after technical inspections into the built part of Basic's wind park, which were required for the company to obtain an operating permit.

Even though Hrvatske Sume had earlier sued C.E.M.P. for damage caused during the construction of access roads needed for work on the wind park, which Rimac was aware of, Jakupcic and Melvan secured the withdrawal of the previous negative opinions.

Based on the withdrawn opinions, they made it possible for C.E.M.P., despite the fact that it did not meet the necessary conditions, to sign with the State Assets Ministry an agreement on the right of servitude over state-owned forest land, and thus meet one of the conditions for the issuance of operating permits, which were subsequently obtained, police said.

HERA director Tomislav Jurekovic is suspected of having enabled Basic's company, at Rimac's asking, to acquire the status of a preferred power producer, thus enabling it to secure a 118% increase in the price of electricity charged.

Rimac is also suspected of having exerted influence, in agreement with Ante Sladic and Josip Ravlic, on the head of the office of the agriculture minister and member of the steering boards of the Paying Agency for Agriculture and the Croatian Agriculture and Food Agency, Ruzica Njavro, to secure, for €10,000 and an additional HRK 500,000, changes to a regulation on the lease of state-owned forest land to enable Sladic and Ravlic's companies specialising in the purchase and sale of cattle to obtain much higher state incentives and support than they were entitled to, as well as to lease a much larger area of land.

Rimac is also suspected of having exerted influence on Gracac mayor Natasa Turbic through Marinko Tokmacija as the middleman, to publish a changed tender for the lease of farmland and karst pastureland in the area of Gracac and to choose Sladic and Ravlic's bid.

In exchange for that, acting in agreement with Ravlic, Sladic promised Rimac the transfer of ownership over a construction plot in the coastal town of Rogoznica and a larger sum of money for third persons who were to be involved in the deal.

Sladic gave Rimac an undetermined sum of money for Tokmacija who kept a part of the money for himself and gave at least €10,000 to Natasa Turbic.

Police believe that Rimac also exerted influence on Assistant Economy Minister Ana Mandac to secure the allocation of ministry grants to Knin stonemason Nikola Lapcic, who in exchange did work in Rimac's house at a price much below the market price.

Rimac, Jakupcic, Melvan, Jurekovic, Sladic, Ravlic, Tokmacija, Njavro, Turbic, Lapcic, and Mandac have been detained while Basic and Stipic are currently beyond the reach of Croatian police.

What with the global coronavirus pandemic, the threat of economic collapse and the need to reassess the way in which we live our lives, from our basic social interactions to the way we work, you've probably forgotten all about former Agrokor boss Ivica Todoric and his own role in the almost-destruction of the domestic economy.

Yes, Ivica Todoric is still around. He hasn't been forgotten about. His former lawyers, the well known Jadranka Slokovic and Cedo Prodanovic, who famously defended him in front of the British court in London, have stepped down from their positions in Todoric's regard, and now he has someone new fighting his corner...

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of May, 2020, from next week, all of Croatia's legal ''elite'' will return to the scene, as will the many active lawsuits. From Ivo Sanader and Marina Lovric Merzel through to Nadan Vidosevic and, well... the list goes on and on and I'd be here for most of the day if I were to list all of these names. One of the more high-profile trials that will be found in court is the case of the former Agrokor boss Ivica Todoric.

RTL has discovered that Todoric's new lawyer is no less than Croatia's former USKOK chief Zeljko Zganjer. The other is Ljiljana Planinic. For those unfamiliar with USKOK, this institution is a body of the Croatian criminal justice system: The Croatian State Prosecutor's Office for the Suppression of Organised Crime and Corruption/Ured za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta).

"Yesterday, I received a notification that I had been appointed ex-officio defense counsel for Ivica Todoric. It's a factually complex process,'' said the former USKOK boss, and in reference to the now infamous case in which there are 100,000 pages of documents, he said:

"It will take me a long time. I need to sit down and try to study the whole thing,'' he said. Regarding the difference between an ex-officio lawyer and the situation in which someone actually hires him as a lawyer, Zganjer said:

"There's no essential difference. A lawyer must work conscientiously and correctly and with dedication in both cases,''

In regard to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, but also the Zagreb earthquake, he said:

"It simply came to our notice then. We as lawyers must accept the schedule of hearings. And each of us will do our best to provide legal protection to the extent which is possible.''

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February the 9th, 2020 - The Mayor of Zagreb is a colourful fellow. Mired in controversy and often the culprit in many an eyebrow-raising, funny, or just plain ridiculous story - Milan Bandic has seen (and probably done) it all. In his many years serving the City of Zagreb as mayor, many a scandal has found itself at his doorstep. With USKOK (Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organised Crime) now hot on his heels, let's take a look at what we've found out about Milan Bandic in the last week or so alone.

Milan Bandic holds the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hold your horses, you might say, many Croats and indeed many citizens of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina hold each other's citizenship. You'd be right. Zdravko Mamic, Dinamo Zagreb's former main man, who also spent much of his time in a quagmire of controversy, also holds citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He used his second passport as a way to escape justice in Croatia and live just over the border in Medjugorje - Bosnia typically does not extradite its citizens. 

Could Milan Bandic be thinking along the same lines now that certain unwanted events from his past are catching up with him more and more quickly? Potentially. According to the Croatian media, it isn't known just when Bandic obtained citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the appropriate ministry doesn't want to reveal it. Telegram reports that according to checks carried out, Milan Bandic, who was indeed born in Grude, Bosnia and Herzegovina, does hold citizenship of the country and it seems he obtained citizenship based on ethnicity/descent.

Bandic was born in 1955 in Grude, and then held what was Yugoslavian citizenship. He has held Croatian citizenship since Croatia declared independence, and has lived in Zagreb since 1974. Bandic believes questions about his second citizenship are ''racist questions'', as he made sure to say in response to questioning from a journalist. 

''I'm a citizen of Croatia and I'll be the President of Croatia. Your question is racist,'' exclaimed Milan Bandic when asked about him holding citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina back in 2009. 

Milan Bandic divorced his wife so he could acquire a cheap apartment

Marital bliss means very little when there's a bargain to be had. 24 years ago, Milan and his wife Vesna apparently went through a rough patch, which all relationships and marriages go through at some point or another. They filed for divorce in 1996 and their very short-lived divorce was amicable and friendly, as the then ex-husband, Milan Bandic, immediately approved his ex-wifes request to buy an apartment for a price seven times lower than its market value.

Cunning? An insult to marriage? Or just plain old good sense in a world of unpredictable inflation? Click here to read our full report on the situation and decide for yourself.

Milan Bandic has a Croatian diplomatic passport

So what? You might ask. He's a prominent Croatian politician and he's the mayor of the capital city of the holder of the rotating EU presidency. Well, it seems that Milan Bandic has taken up the hobby of collecting passports and other travel documents. Along with him holding the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has now got his hands on a Croatian diplomatic passport. As Telegram reports, that information was confirmed to Index by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

This document, as should be emphasised, belongs to the Mayor of Zagreb under the Law on Travel Documents; for official travel abroad, and a number of Croatian officials have the right to obtain a diplomatic passport.

These include, for example, the President of the Republic of Croatia, the Prime Minister, government ministers, the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, the heads of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, MPs, the Attorney General, directors and secretaries in the ministries, and the President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).

Diplomatic passport users can cross the border faster and easier, their luggage isn't checked, and they basically don't have to go through the endless waiting and treatment from airport staff and border guards that is... let's just say ''lacking''.

Milan Bandic exercised this right and his diplomatic passport was issued to him on the 16th of June, 2015, and is valid until the 16th of June, 2020.

The aforementioned law is highly convenient in Croatian circumstances (of course it is). By his function, Nadan Vidosevic, who was arrested on the 12th of November, 2013, charged with misappropriating 32.9 million kuna from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, could also take out a diplomatic passport. Once again, you can come to your own conclusions about that and what it might imply.

USKOK claims Milan Bandic was found in possession of a 40 million kuna fraud document

As Ana Raic Knezevic/Telegram reported on the 5th of February, 2020, Milan Bandic was questioned on the aforementioned date as a witness on the continuation of the process in the dry ice affair. The allegations are against former Zvonimir Sostar, who has been one of Milan's closest associates for many years.

In Sostar's tenure, between 2006 and 2013, the City of Zagreb's budget was scammed by a little less than 40 million kuna in the affair according to USKOK. USKOK claims that fictitious bills were being paid to clean air conditioners in sports halls across Zagreb, though that work was largely not carried out.

Bandic says he only heard about that case in passing. He remembers learning that the sanitary inspection had ordered the air-conditioners to be cleaned because of the risk of Legionnaires disease, but he left everything else, he claims, to his good friend Zvonimir Sostar.

To counter his claims, USKOK then presented Bandic with a document found in his own home which was discovered during a search after his 2014 arrest. This paper shows certain budget items, one of which is particularly clear in reference to the dry ice affair. Bandic, as he himself admitted, wrote on it "10 percent", "15 percent", "300,000", and then "Mirna must ask Anica". Therefore, it concludes that Bandic was much more involved in the case than he cared to admit.

"I'm not a chemist and I don't know what dry ice is. I know I have an air conditioner at home, but I don't know how it gets cleaned. This was a working document on the redistribution of funds in the budget, and Mirna Situm, then head of the department, had to consult with Anica Tav, the assistant to the Public Procurement Office,'' Milan Bandic said without explaining, however, why he kept that document in his own house.

The indictment charges Zvonimir Sostar, former head of the City of Zagreb's Office of Health, Labour, Social Welfare and Veterans' Affairs, with having agreed with Davor Ljubic, the owner of Ekotours, at the beginning of 2006, to provide him with the job of cleaning the air conditioning and ventilation systems in the sports halls of the City of Zagreb. According to Sostar's promise, Ljubic would have all the expenses, including transportation and fees, paid for from the City of Zagreb's budget.

Although in the end, the City of Zagreb did not provide the funds from the budget, Sostar nevertheless initiated an air conditioner cleanup programme, launching public tenders in which, according to USKOK, clearly favoured Ljubic. The cleaning method was just expensive "dry ice". Ljubic was paid according to the invoices, regardless of whether the work was done, the indictment alleges.

In addition, the investigators found that there was not much control over the work carried out at all. The indictment alleges that Sostar hired Mira Loncar, a health expert at the City of Zagreb's Office of Health, Labour, Social Welfare and Veterans' Affairs, to compile the bidding documents that would best suit Ekotours. She did so, and Ljubic's company got the job very easily, USKOK claims.

According to USKOK, Loncar knew that Ekotours hadn't done some of the work and that part of the cleanup hadn't been accomplished using "dry ice", as had been previously agreed. The city received a 52.4 million kuna invoice by 2013, while it is suspected that Ekotours did work worth a mere 13.4 million kuna. However, Sostar still approved the payment of all of Ljubic's invoices. As a result, he is charged with nearly 39 million kuna in damages to the city budget.

The indictment further alleges that Sostar paid Ljubic off by paying for his travel, hotels and even for fishing. In total, it is suspected that the former city health minister received 177,000 kuna in bribes.

The second indictment charges Ljubic with fraudulent business relationships with several private companies, which falsified his accounts in order to justify the enormous value of the business he did. He paid the money to his alleged subcontractors, but it was just a way to get the money out of Ekotours' account. At the same time, Ljubic were allowed to avoid paying taxes on profit and VAT.

In total, between January 2014 and December the 31st, 2015, according to the indictment, 2.2 million kuna in tax was evaded. Ljubic and his director, Zonja are also accused of faking business books and money laundering. Some of the defendants involved in this chain of drawing money out of the city budget have previously pleaded guilty. They have agreed with USKOK on relatively lenient fines, and they have to pay back some of the illegally earned money.

Citizens of Zagreb paid for a full page of advertisements in the newspaper, just for Milan Bandic to tell his ''truth''

According to a repoty from Telegram on the 8th of February, 2020, an advertisement with the official logo of the City of Zagreb appeared in the papers.

"Dear residents of Zagreb...'' the ad text begins, "we have been witnessing for a long time, and especially over recent days, various pieces of information related to the GUP Amendments is coming to you."

It goes on to say that the atmosphere of "politicking and manipulation at all costs" prevails in the public space, so the ''facts'' and the ''real truth'' have been lost sight of. So now the city government has decided to publish their side, with the word TRUTH (ISTINA) being repeated rather strangely in each and every paragraph.

There are many points made, but none explain why Mayor Milan Bandic doesn't set his arguments out with the use of regular channels, which recently serve him mostly for insulting journalists. Instead, he seems happy for Zagreb's citizens to pay for the publication of these advertisements without being asked.

Now we've covered five of the latest scandals, controversies and face-palm moments related to Milan Bandic, we'll do our best, as Plenkovic desires, to get back to ''focusing on Croatia's EU Presidency'' and hope these constant skeletons in closets stop falling out at such an incredible pace.

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Around 20,000 citizens protested in Trg bana Jelačića against Zagreb Mayor and USKOK indictee Milan Bandić and demanded his permanent removal from politics. The protest was punctuated with crowd chants of “Enough, Milan", "Go, Go" and "Thieves, Thieves".

Largest Crowd of Three Protests Against Zagreb Mayor

The protest, which was called "Enough", began at 16:00 CET yesterday. According to the organizers' observations; this protest has by far gathered the most residents of all three against the mayor. The third protest, which feature live bands and a stage, was organized by Siget Citizens Association, Green Action and Zagreb Te Zove according to Matej Devčić/Jutarnji List on February 1, 2020.

“In the first protest we shouted, ‘step down’, in the second we were jurors and passed down a ruling - you are guilty. We even showed up at the courtroom. But this has all happened with the support of the government. Without Andrej Plenkovic, Bandić would not have been able to do all this,” Gordana Pasanec, president of the Siget Citizens Association, told the gathering.

Bernard Ivčić from Green Action said that citizens came to Zagreb's Trg bana Jelačića to say enough to Bandić's system of clientelism, which is destroying Zagreb.

Mayor’s GUP Plan Benefits Friends: Residents Choking on Trash

“The GUP (General Urban Plan City of Zagreb) is a scandalous document in which Bandić backs Zagreb Manhattan for the benefit of his friends and lets us choke on the trash everywhere. We ask all MPs to oppose this plan,” Ivčić said.

Jelena Miloš from the Zagreb Te Zove said that Zagreb is ashamed of its mayor. Residents take pride in their neighborhoods and are fighting against the criminal GUP plan and waste mismanagement. All of this would not have been possible without the support of the HDZ in the city assembly, she said.

“We are also saying to the HDZ: we will not forget you,” Miloš proclaimed to the crowd.

Marko Košak from Green Action arrived to the stage holding a garbage bag full of trash.

“What I have in my hand is a symbol of Bandić,” said Košak, adding that the mayor is guilty for all the waste problems in Zagreb.

“Remember this date: February 1, 2020; today we are taking down Milan Bandić,” Košak added.

Zagreb Protest Crowd Reached 20,000: Shut Down Tram Service

Police officers wouldn’t provide crowd estimates, but observers claim the crowd, which filled the entire main city square, reached 20,000. There were so many people in Trg bana Jelačića that tram traffic was suspended at one point.

Bandić Dismissed Protesters as Whiners and Actors

Yesterday, Mayor Bandić spoke to reporters about the protest organized against him and suggested that some protesters were "whining, and some were acting."

“It is the democratic right of protesters to protest, and the democratic right of the mayor to work,” said Mayor Bandić, who responded to questions on Cvjetni trg, where P.I.N.K. had organized an event to commemorate World Cancer Day.

Highlights of the Zagreb Protest as It Happened

16:25 - Several thousand people gathered at Trg bana Jelačića to protest Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić. Protesters came to the square with banners chanting "Prison", "Bandits and thieves" and "Enough!"

Comedian Marina Orsag, a presenter at the protest, addressed the crowd. "Thank you, everyone, for pointing out that you are not afraid to come out, that we are not little hooves who will not fight Milan Bandić," Orsag said, according to Dnevnik "What happens when you are dissatisfied with an employee? You fire him!"

16:45 - Film director and candidate in the last presidential election Dario Juričan also came to protest Milan Bandić.

The protesters were also addressed by Bernard Ivčić of Green Action. "A little kid would have done more than (Milan) Bandić. Everywhere around Zagreb, there are affairs, all with the support of Andrej Plenkovic and the HDZ, who hold a majority in the assembly.

Orsag asked the assembled people to remove derogatory signs and claimed that the protesters had "stopped traffic".

17:00 - Jelena Miloš from Zagreb Te Zove addressed the protesters. "(Milan) Bandić has to leave because he has been destroying GUPs for the last 20 years," Miloš said, to which protesters responded with "Leave!" "Zagreb is ashamed of its mayor."

"Today we are proud of Savica, who defended their park. Samoborček and Trešnjevka, because they are defending green spaces. Resnik fought against a harmful incinerator. Novi Zagreb too. "We say - 'we won't forget about you,'" Miloš said.

17:25 - Marko Košak from Green Action brought a black garbage bag to the stage. “This is a symbol of Mayor Bandić. If Milan Bandić is famous for something, then it is an inability to solve trash problems. We have had enough,'' Košak said.

''Now he wants to increase everyone's bills. It won’t work, Milan!'' said Marko Košak to Bandić, as quoted by Dnevnik.

''Remember this date: February 1, 2020, today we are taking down Milan Bandić here!'' Košak concluded to the wild applause of protesters.

17:50 - Marina Orsag ended the protest with a message for Bandić, "I have one slogan to end with - when we get rid of the scum, we get rid of the garbage," Orsag concluded.

Siget Citizens Association president Gordana Pasanec thanked everyone who came to the protest. "When I see how many there are of you are on stage, it makes me tremble. Thank you for showing up in such large numbers," Pasanec said.

Green Action: GUP Not Taking Public Interests into Account

On Friday, Green Action welcomed the Zagreb Constitutional Court's ruling that it would not increase the cost of transporting waste for Zagreb which was slated for on February 1, but they also had announced that they would not withdraw from the protest.

Green Action president Željka Leljak Gracin said there were many other reasons for today's protest because "Bandić's politics and city management are anything but acceptable." At the protest, she said, "we will once again demonstrate that it is time for Bandić to leave this position."

She also said that changes to the GUP will be decided next week, which she claims are "increasingly detrimental to the city in every case and are in no way taking public interests into account. I believe that residents need to show that this city is not Bandić's, but it is being managed as if it is," she claimed.

A considerable archive of Total Croatia News articles about Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić can be found here.

Information on Zagreb Organizations Working to Remove Bandic

Follow Zagreb Te Zove here to keep updated on events and protests the Zagreb mayor. Information on Dario Juričan, documentary film maker and performance artist, can be found on his Facebook page and website. Information on Zagreb je NAŠ, a Zagreb-based political party, can be found on Facebook here and on their website.